Most corporate and e-Learning voice-over projects require one talent per language. But some – like e-Learning scenarios and client testimonials – have multiple parts that require voicing. While this may not sound like a particular challenge, these projects can end up having serious consistency issues or not cutting together at all if the different sessions aren’t managed properly. What can you do to avoid these issues?

This post will list the four things you must keep in mind when recording multi-talent VO projects.

Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH) is quickly becoming a standard deliverable for video localization projects. Why? Because SDH adds a significant level of accessibility, usually the purview of closed captioning, to subtitling. But this is also why many multimedia localization professionals think of them as “translated captions” – and this can cause serious issues during production.

This post will discuss the 3 critical differences between closed captioning and SDH.

One of the questions we get most from clients is the difference between the SRT and WebVTT captioning and subtitling formats. This question makes sense – they look similar and most online players can take both of them. That said, every multimedia localization professional should have a working knowledge of their differences – especially in terms of capabilities and workflow.

This post will list the differences between the SRT and WebVTT captions/subtitles formats.

E-Learning scenarios are the hardest type of content for video localization. Why? Because they are narrative scenes which require labor-intensive creative localization, but which also have a very specific educational and legal purpose, requiring tighter translation accuracy than most entertainment content. Fortunately, producers and localization professionals have multiple cost-effective options to tackle these types of videos.

This post will list the four localization options available for e-Learning scenarios.

Audio sample rate can be vexing for voice-over localization professionals. Why? Because getting it wrong can mean video dubbing files that don’t synchronize properly, or an IVR system that doesn’t work at all. Fortunately, it’s not terribly difficult to get it right – if you know what you’re doing.

This post will explain what audio sample rate is, and what multimedia localization professionals must do to get it right on audio and dubbing projects.

Lip-sync dubbing for entertainment content is one of the trickiest types of video localization. And getting it right is critical to whether or not your feature film, TV show or web series has an audience around the world. That means that every element must be spot-on – including the foreign-language casting. As a producer or localization project manager, what can you do to ensure a great foreign-language cast on your dubbed show?

This post will list four tips to help you during your talent selection reviews.

Corporate and e-Learning content is particularly tricky when it comes to video localization. The information itself is difficult to get right, especially if it has legal or administrative terms. At the same time, localization accuracy is often critical to the safety of customers and employees. So what can video producers do to make their content localization more accurate – and more cost-effective?

This post lists 4 tips that corporate and e-Learning video producers must keep in mind as they develop their source videos.

Most fonts don’t have multilingual support – this has always been a challenge for document, multimedia and e-Learning localization. Fortunately, desktop publishing and design applications have incorporated several features to deal with this issue. The latest is Articulate Storyline 360, which recently added a global font substitution interface, bringing a smile to the faces of multimedia localization professionals everywhere.

This post will review the new Storyline font substitution feature – and explain why it’s a big deal.

Requests for accented English voice-over recordings are increasing. Why? Because there are millions of second-language English speakers around the world – including in the United States. Naturally, multimedia productions have to reflect that diversity, as well as reach out to these demographics. Now, more than ever, it’s necessary to understand the qualities that are essential in an accented English voice talent.

This post will list what multimedia localization professionals must look for when casting non-native English-language talents.

Off-the-shelf software like Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline has been critical to the surge in e-Learning localization in the past decade. But a lot of older courses were created using proprietary software or developer platforms that don’t have the same level of translation support – and some courses many have even been coded “by hand.” As you can imagine, they present particularly tricky challenges to e-Learning localization. So what are multimedia project managers to do when they get one?

Start with this post, which lists three tips for localizing e-Learning courses created in proprietary programs.

Pick-ups are the bane of multilingual voice-over recording projects. But content can require updates after recording, clients can make script changes, and in-country managers can ask for tweaks. In short, sometimes there’s just no way to avoid a pick-up session. Fortunately, there are a couple things you can do to minimize their cost and disruption to a project’s timeline.

This post will list 3 tips that may save you time and money the next time you have pick-ups.

Every great voice-over talent has an unmistakable quality – and certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. But for corporate and e-Learning audio recordings, they also need a specific set of skills that are more tangible, and honed through years of experience. These skills are critical to ensuring accuracy, proper post-production, timely deliveries – and of course, high-quality audio.

This post will list the 3 skills that great corporate and e-Learning voice talents must have.

The demand for captioning source materials in Indian languages, as well as subtitling English-language content for India, has increased dramatically in the last few years. It makes sense – India is growing rapidly, especially when it comes to internet adoption. So what do video localization professionals need to know to caption and subtitle for a country with a linguistically diverse population?

This post will list three tips to help you caption and subtitle your videos for India.

Few learning tools are as effective as screen activity capture instructional videos. That’s why they’re everywhere – search for instructions on how to do anything in a software program or user interface, and odds are you’ll find a video on exactly that process. The demand for them has grown around the world as well, so that they’re now a fixture of multimedia localization. But these videos present some challenges to translation, often requiring customized solutions – and even single-language workflows.

This post will list the three things localization professionals must know before starting a screen activity capture video project.

In honor of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, we’ll continue our survey of multimedia localization into Korean. Today’s focus: video dubbing. The Korean economy is particularly strong, and video localization is an important part of any internationalization effort into this market, especially as content keeps moving online and towards mobile. But there are a few particulars that must be taken into account before starting a video localization project for Korea.

This post will list the three things multimedia localization professionals must know when dubbing into Korean.

In honor of the 2018 Winter Olympics set to start in PyeongChang this Friday, we’ll be taking a closer look at multimedia localization into Korean. In today’s post we’ll focus on captioning and subtitling specifically. Video localization for this market should be a part of any organization’s multimedia strategy, and subtitles in particular are a cost-effective and rapid solution – but the Korean language presents some unique challenges to text-based workflows.

This post will list the four things localization professionals must know to manage Korean captioning and subtitle projects.

Audio and video multimedia has largely moved online, and the trend is not abating. That means that usage – where a video will play, and for how long – is now a factor in voice-over and dubbing projects for online content. These days anyone who works in multimedia localization must have a basic understanding of usage, and how it affects audio production budgets.

This post will list the four things you must know about usage for online video localization projects.

Asian double-byte languages have been a challenge for multimedia localization since the early days of computing – and in particular for captioning and subtitling. Fortunately, most of the initial issues with these languages have been resolved, and long-gone are the days of corrupted documents and single-language versions of Windows. But it still takes a bit of extra work and know-how to avoid issues when localizing into them.

This post will list the four things you must know to caption and subtitle Asian double-byte languages.

Text-to-speech is now widely used – most notably in the recent boom in smart speakers, which rely on TTS voices like Alexa and Google Assistant. But there’s another field in which TTS voices are about to become just as important – audio accessibility voice-over for documentation. Because multimedia localization is closely tied to accessibility services, it’s crucial for language service providers and post-production professionals to understand why TTS will come to dominate this particular field in 2018 – and how to be ready for these projects.

This post will list the 5 reasons TTS will become the standard for document accessibility audio in 2018.

Virtual reality video – also known as 360-degree video – has gone mainstream in the last year. There are several prosumer-level 360 cameras on the market, and the videos are supported by YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook. Naturally, multilingual audiences are clamoring for them. But the videos have critical challenges to multimedia localization and accessibility, in particular when it comes to dubbing, captioning and subtitling – some of which don’t have solutions currently.

This post will look at the challenges that virtual reality video poses to localization.